Goodbye Salads, Hello Roasts!

The First of October.

Time to say Goodbye to summer salads and cold pastas,

and Hello to hearty roasts and stews, like Pot Roast a la Jan.

This was my mother's recipe, from her friend Jan, and we grew up with this as one

of the standard stick-in-the-oven and go to church Sunday dinners, along with leg of lamb.

A post-church midday family meal on Sundays was a ritual of my childhood.

Afterward, my dad would read the New York Times, fall asleep on the sofa,

and we kids would play "Hide the Penny On Daddy"   while he snoozed.

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 To make this family pleasing roast --

you will need a big sheet of heavy foil, or two layers of thinner stuff;

Also -- a hunk o'beef.  Bottom round was on sale at the market.

 Next -- an envelope of onion soup mix.  That stuff you make onion dip with.

 Rinse off the meat, put it in the middle of the foil, sprinkle on the onion soup

and roll the roast around until it's pretty well coated with dry soup.

 Ugh.  Raw meat is really unattractive, isn't it?

Wrap up the meat in the foil.  Roll the seams deli-style, and keep them all up top; no leaking!

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  At this temp, the meat will take about an hour per pound.

Put the wrapped roast into a baking pan, and into the oven.

Then go watch TV, read a book, or go off to Goodwill
to find something that you really don't need but simply must have.

Goodbye, little roast.  See you in a couple of hours and a bit!

Enjoy your time in the sauna.

I am going to feed Dion, who is sniffing at the cupboard where his kibble lives.

I think that's a hint.

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Okay -- back, and the oven timer went off.  Let the roast sit for about 15 minutes.
By now your family is asking "What's that smell?"
Only, in a good way, not like, "Hey what's that wet dog smell?"

Seriously, your kitchen will smell deeee-licious.

Peek-a-Boo!

Put the roast on top of a saucepan and poke a nice big hole in the bottom of the foil,
and let the juices run into the pan.

Remember those commercials for Gravy Train Dog Food?  Makes its own gravy!

Gravy should be thick; otherwise it's pan juices.  You can thicken gravy by cooking down pan liquids,
but if you did that with this liquid it would be so salty it would pickle your eyeballs if you ate it.

I take an easy way out with this gravy.  I whisk some Wondra no-clump flour in with a
liquid -- water, broth or wine -- and put that into the pot with the hot pan juices.

You have to let it cook up nicely, both to thicken properly and to lose any raw flour flavor.


You can't do the usual roux-with-pan-drippings gravy, as there are no pan drippings.

And here it is, Howard's dinner:

 
He just got home and I sent him upstairs to change out of his suit, so I'm sneaking pictures.

Linking to that orgy of food and recipes that is Michael Lee West's Foodie Friday.
It's at her Designs by Gollum blog.  Click here!

And . . . we are getting more of that tropical storm rain, right on through Friday.
It won't be long before the scent of Eau de Damp Canine overpowers the lingering pot roast aroma.  -- Cass